


Boy

by SilverMyfanwy



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Boys In Love, Chess, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gender Non-Conforming Character, Getting Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Taxes, Trans Character, Trans Gwaine (Merlin), Trans Male Character, Trans Merlin (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:22:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29604519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMyfanwy/pseuds/SilverMyfanwy
Summary: “Arthur, I’ve met an Irish boy and he saved my life.”-Feat. trans Merlin, trans Gwaine, Arthur in make-up and a three-legged dog.
Relationships: Gwaine/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Gwaine/Merlin (Merlin), Gwaine/Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	Boy

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings:  
> mention of suspected stabbing  
> suspected concussion  
> mentions of past transphobia  
> mentions of past misogyny
> 
> I'm silvermyfanwy on Tumblr! Come say hi!

“Arthur, I’ve met an Irish boy and he saved my life.”

Arthur frowned. “Merlin, why are you talking like that? Are you drunk?”

“I’ve had two packets of Haribos.”

“Ah. What did the Irish boy save your life from?”

“There was a misunderstanding.”

“And what’s this got to do with the Irish boy?” Arthur asked patiently.

“He stopped me from getting beaten up.”

Arthur sighed. He’d ask Merlin more once the effect of the Haribos had worn off.

“I’m bringing the boy home with me.”

Arthur’s eyebrows shot up. “Merlin, you can’t just bring random children home with you!”

“He’s not a child, he’s a fully-grown adult. He has a beard and he was in the pub. Drinking.”

“So he’s a man, then.”

“Yes. And I’m bringing him home.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s pretty and he has nice hair and I think he’s been stabbed lightly.”

Arthur put his face in his free hand. “Tell me where you are. I’m coming to get you. And call an ambulance.”

-

By the time Arthur reached Merlin and the possibly slightly stabbed man with nice hair, Merlin had recovered some of his senses and was performing first aid on an admittedly very pretty man sitting on a bench.

“It’s not bad enough for an ambulance.” Merlin called cheerfully over his shoulder to Arthur. “It’s just some gashes. They’re only shallow. So not actually gashes.”

The man he was treating raised a hand in greeting to Arthur.

“You did ring an ambulance, didn’t you?” Arthur checked, just to be safe.

“Yeah.” Merlin gestured to a blood-soaked jumper on the floor. “He was wearing that, so I thought it was much worse than it was.”

“Is he drunk?” Arthur asked.

“Little bit. Give Gwaine your coat.”

“Is that Arthur?” Gwaine asked Merlin.

Merlin nodded and took Arthur’s coat. “That is.”

“Are we still taking him home?”

Merlin nodded again. “I’ll explain later. Here, put this on.”

Once Gwaine had put the coat on, Merlin helped him to his feet. “I’m going with you now, aren’t I?”

“Yep. You had a knock on the head and I want to keep an eye on you.”

Gwaine scowled and Arthur cursed internally. Gwaine saw still pretty even when he scowled. “Does that mean I can’t go to sleep?”

“You’ve been drinking, I don’t think we could stop you from going to sleep if we tried. And it was only a light knock; I mostly want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Okay.”

They made their way to Arthur’s car and Merlin and Gwaine had some sort of conversation in the back while Arthur drove. Gwaine had sobered up slightly by the time they reached the flat and was compliant enough to take his shoes off while Merlin persuaded him to go to sleep and Arthur sat at the kitchen table despairing over his life, his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s newest addition to the collection of waifs and strays he’d gathered over the years.

Not that any of them had stayed waifs and strays, or really been waifs and strays in the first place. Merlin just seemed to be a magnet for people that needed a bit of a helping hand, something he was always willing to give. It was one of the reasons Arthur loved him, not that he’d admit it.

“How did you meet this one, then?” Arthur asked quietly as Merlin came into the kitchen and started making himself a cup of tea.

“Slightly annoyed someone at the pub. He saved me.”

Arthur folded his arms. “How did you slightly annoy someone at the pub? And what were you doing in the pub anyway?”

“I’d gone in to see Freya quickly coz she wasn’t very well last week and I wanted to check that she was okay, and then someone was rude, and I said something, and then I thought it was probably best if I left the pub but the guy wanted a fight and he was really big and Gwaine saved me.”

“I don’t even want to know what it was that you said.” Arthur said. “So now what? He has the spare room for the night and then we send him off in the morning.”

“Yeah.” Merlin yawned. “I should probably go to bed.”

Arthur gave him a dry look. “It’s two in the morning. I think you should.”

-

Arthur had expected to be the first one awake the next morning as he was the only one of the three in the house who hadn’t drunk the night before, however he woke up to an empty bed. He frowned and got up, wonderin if Merlin had merely gone to the bathroom or if he was up before Arthur. The bathroom door was wide open, the room empty. Artur headed down the stairs and found Merlin and Gwaine talking quietly at the dining table.

“You’re up horrifically early for someone as drunk as you were last night.” Arthur said to Gwaine. “And you need at least two more hours of sleep to function properly.” he said to Merlin.

“I take it you’re Arthur,” Gwaine said, voice low and Irish and gravelly and Arthur was trying really very hard not to get screwed over by it.

“I am. Nice to meet you sober. And thanks for saving my boyfriend last night.”

“That guy was being a scumbag. I couldn’t stand by and let him insult someone else as well as me.”

“What actually happened? It was too late last night for Merlin to tell me the details.”

Merlin went bright red. “Well….”

“Just tell me.”

“He called me a pretty boy and then I made a few choice remarks about his outfit and masculinity and unkind behaviour.”

Gwaine chuckled at the memory. “You should have seen the look on his face.”

“I think I’m rather glad I didn’t. You are going to get yourself killed one day, Merlin.” Arthur said wearily as he started opening cupboards to find ingredients for breakfast.

“You can’t just expect me to let people get away with staying stuff like that.” Merlin said.

“No, I can’t. I can only hope there’s always someone to help you out. Gwaine, are you staying for breakfast?”

“If you’ll have me.”

“Of course.”

Arthur got to work frying eggs and bacon while Merlin and Gwaine bonded over a mutual dislike of England and a mutual love of fantasy novels.

Artur stayed out of the conversation until he handed over the plates of food and sat down to eat. “So, Gwaine, what do you do for a living?”

“Odd job man, mostly. Plumbing, electric, walls, repairs, landscaping, decorating, carpentry. Anything that people will pay me for that I’m qualified to do.”

“And how’d you end up in England?”

“I wanted a change. More jobs here, because the towns are closer together. And I had no desire to spend my whole life in one place. What do you do?”

“I own the boxing gym by the swimming pool.” Arthur said.

“I’ve walked past it more times than I can count put maybe I’ll go in one day now.” Gwaine said.

“He can definitely punch stuff pretty well.” Merlin said.

“And so can you, Merlin, but you’d make a terrible boxer because you don’t follow the rules.” Arthur said. “Not that you know the rules.”

“As you’ve probably guessed, I _don’t_ work at the gym.” Merlin flashed a smile. “I work at the chemist on the high street.”

“And how did you need up here?”

“My uncle owns the chemist. My mam sent me here to work for him.” Merlin paused. “Really, she sent me here to get me out from under her feet and having me work for Gaius was just a side plot.”

At the end of the meal, Gwaine thanked Merlin and Arthur for their hospitality and goodwill from the night before, then left to go and feed his ‘poor dog who probably thinks I’m dead in a ditch, somewhere’.

About half an hour after Gwaine left, Merlin got a text on his phone and laughed. “Gwaine says his dog’s fast asleep on the sofa and barely noticed him entering the house.”

-

“I’m going out tonight.” Merlin told Arthur when he came home from work a few weeks later. “I’m meeting up with Gwaine for a drink.”

“Gwaine who got beaten up with you the other night?” Arthur asked, mostly concentrating on the bolognese he was stirring.

“Yeah. At the Rising Sun.”

“When are you going?”

“I’ll leave at half seven, but if dinner won’t be ready by then I can leave it a bit.”

“This is almost ready.” Arthur put the wooden spoon down and turned around to kiss Merlin in greeting. “How was your day?”

“Good.” Merlin shrugged off his jacket and started to unbutton his work polo shirt. “I got to make a jigsaw display.”

“A what?”

“A load of new jigsaws came in and I got to make a display out of them. How was your day?”

“I got punched in the face.” Arthur said mournfully.

“And? Isn’t it part of your job to get punched in the face?”

“Well, yeah, but no one’s supposed to be good enough to actually hit _me_. And certainly not in my face.”

“Did it hurt?”

“A bit. I’m fine now.”

“Your nose looks as crooked as ever.”

“That’s good to hear.” Arthur rolled his eyes. “How long do you think you’ll be out for?”

Merlin shrugged. “Dunno. Why?”

“I’m gonna put on make-up after dinner. I want to know how long I have to make myself beautiful before you return.”

“Probably only a couple of hours. I’m walking tomorrow.”

They ate dinner and Merlin got ready to go while Arthur swanned around the house closing the curtains and putting his trays of make-up out in front of the big mirror in the living room. “Please don’t get into any more fights.”

“I make no promises.” Merlin grinned and finished putting on his boots. “See you later!”

-

Two and a half hours later, Merlin came home slightly drunk but wit no injuries and without having got in any fights.

“Have a nice time?” Arthur asked as Merlin came in. He was sat on the sofa doing a crossword after having put on green eyeshadow and winged eyeliner.

“You look really pretty!” Merlin cooed.

“And you sound like you’re drunk. I take it you did have a good time, then.” Arthur put his crossword down and got up to help steer Merlin towards bed. “Can you get your shoes off by yourself?”

Merlin nodded and sat on the end of the bed, tugging clumsily at his boots until they came off.

“Did you get in any fights?”

“Almost.”

Arthur groaned.

“But we restrained ourselves.”

“Well done.”

-

“I’m going to see if Gwaine wants to come and watch a film with us tomorrow evening.” Merlin told Arthur a week later.

“Okay.”

-

Gwaine turned up at their flat at seven the next day, bearing a six-pack of cider and two large bags of crisps.

Arthur let him in.” Merlin’s in the kitchen doing something weird with marshmallows. He’ll be out in a minute. Come in!”

“What kind of weird thing with marshmallows?” Gwaine asked, raising an eyebrow as he walked in and kicked his shoes off.

“I think he’s trying to fry them.” Arthur said. “We’ll probably hear a shriek in a minute and then he’ll come in here looking sheepish and say how good a thing it is that you’ve brought crisps.”

Gwaine chuckled. “He’s not much of a cook, then, I take it.”

“He tries.” Arthur said. “Sit down, we’ll start the film when Merlin’s ready.”

Gwaine sat down and was quiet for a moment. “I’m listening out for Merlin’s shriek.” He said when he noticed Arthur’s look of confusion at the concentration on Gwaine’s face.

“Ah.”

Merlin shrieked and Gwaine and Arthur both snickered under their breath.

“Told you.” Arthur said. “Merlin, is everything alright?”

“No,” Merlin said pitifully as he walked in looking defeated. He perked up when he caught sight of Gwaine. “Oh! Gwaine! I hadn’t realised you’d arrived.”

“I thought it would be best not to interrupt your cooking.” Arthur said.

“Was it the right thing for me to have brought crisps?” Gwaine asked throwing one of the bags at Merlin.

“Yes. The marshmallows died a firey death.” Merlin sat down on the sofa and started opening the bag of crisps. “Shall we start the film?”

After half an hour they started on the cider by the end of the film, though they hadn’t got drunk and were just slightly tipsy instead they were relaxed enough to talk about their lives in connection to the film.

“The guy with he blonde hair was a pig.” Gwaine declared. “He was a real pig. She should have left him.”

Merlin and Arthur nodded their agreement.

“And the dog shouldn’t have died.” Merlin said sadly. He still had the box of tissues on his lap.

“I dated a guy like that once. He was awful.” Gwaine took a long drink from his cider. “Treated me nice at first then started calling me a girl.”

“Clearly he was a pig if he thought calling you a girl was an insult.” Merlin said.

“It was worse than just misogyny.” Gwaine said quietly. “I’m trans.”

Arthur winced and Merlin’s face fell.

“I’m sorry he said that to you.” Merlin said.

Gwaine pulled a wry face. “What happened happened.”

“They shouldn’t have treated you like that.” Arthur said. “If you ever have any more bad luck and want us to help you out and give some stern talking too, we’re always here.”

“Thank you.”

“I never would have said anything like that to you.” Merlin said suddenly, looking at Gwaine intently, eyes meeting.

Arthur felt a sudden wave of emotional nostalgia from third wheeling when his sister had been dating her husband, which was completely ridiculous given that he was the one dating Merlin and not Gwaine.

“I believe you.” Gwaine said, voice slightly hoarse.

Merlin lowered his gaze to the dark green of the throw on the sofa. “And I- I know what it’s like to be in that position. Well, it wasn’t in a relationship, but people have called me a girl. Coz I’m trans too.”

Gwaine held out a hand to Merlin to fist-bump. “Nice.” He looked to Arthur one eyebrow raised. “You too, by any chance?”

Arthur shook his head. “Cis.”

“But he is gnc, so he sort of has an idea of the girl stuff.” Merlin said. “Though I say that as Arthur sits there drinking cider and wearing a football shirt. He doesn’t look like that all the time.”

Gwaine was about to say something when his phone buzzed. He sighed and read the text. “Sorry. Sounds like my dog’s barking and the neighbour’s trying to get her baby to sleep. I need to go. This was fun, thanks. We should do it again sometime.”

Merlin and Arthur nodded.

“Nice to get to know you under less violent circumstances.” Arthur said.

Gwaine grinned. “And you.”

Merlin showed him the door, hugged him, sat back down.

“You alright?” Arthur asked gently.

“Yeah.”

-

“Arthur, we need to file taxes.” Merlin called from the sofa.

Arthur was doing paperwork at the table. “Taxes?”

“Yeah.” Merlin rested his head on the back of the sofa and looked at Arthur expectantly.

“Why are you suddenly thinking about taxes?”

“Coz Gwaine’s doing his taxes- well, I don’t think he can be actually doing his taxes because he seems to be complaining about doing it more than he can actually eb doing it. And then I thought about taxes.” Merlin winced. “I don’t think I did my taxes last year.” panic crossed his face. “Am I going to jail?”

“I did your taxes for you last year.” Arthur soothed him. “And the year before that.”

Merlin breathed a sigh of relief and then panicked again. “Has it really been-” he counted on his fingers- “three years since I last did my taxes?”

“Yes, Merlin, it has.”

Merlin climbed over the back of the sofa to kiss Arthur. “My hero.”

“I would make a very dashing knight in shining armour.” Arthur smirked, pulling Merlin onto hi lap. “I’d have to rescue you from a troll though, because I think you’d make friends with any dragon that kidnapped you.”

“Without hesitation.”

-

A few days later, in the middle of aa very heated game of chess in which Arthur was demolishing Merlin, Merlin’s phone rang. “Oh, it’s Gwaine! We’ll have to stop playing chess. What a shame we’ll never find out who wins.”

He swept his arm across the chessboard, knocking all the pieces onto the floor. He picked his phone up and darted away before Arthur could say or do anything.

“Merlin Emrys what on earth was that for?” Arthur demanded.

Merlin had already left the room and was no doubt answering the phone with a triumphant grin spread across his face.

By the time Merlin came back the chess pieces had been packed away into the box and Arthur was sprawled across the sofa doing something on his own phone. “Who was it?”

“Gwaine. He’s putting some shelves together and he needs our help.”

-

“I have no idea why I thought any of you would be any use at all.” Gwaine complained, sitting down heavily and staring at the mess of wooden planks and fittings spread out on the floor. “You’re more useless than Pingu is and she’s a dog, and that’s after your skills are combined.”

“I’ll keep that phrase in mind next time you ask us for DIY help.” Merlin said, dryly. “More useless than your dog. Thanks.”

“You’re not useless,” Arthur told Pingu, stroking her behind the ears. Pingu, Gwaine’s rescue collie with three legs, was sitting next to him on the sofa after having been banished there for trying to eat a piece of shelf.

“My pleasure.” Gwaine beamed and Merlin rolled his eyes, grabbing a cushion from the sofa and flinging it into Gwaine’s face. “Oi!”

Gwaine found another cushion and thumped him with it. Pingu started barking at the excitement and tried to catch the cushions in mid-air, while Arthur clung onto her collar to try and stop her from crashing onto the many spiky metal objects on the floor. Fortunately for Arthur- who, while strong, couldn’t quite match an overexcited collie- she soon found a patch of crumbs that had been hidden behind one of the cushions. Gwaine and Merlin rolled back and forth, laughing and wacking each other and tumbling while Arthur called out encouragements from the sideline until suddenly Gwaine was lying on top of Merlin and they were staring each other in the eye.

The room went silent.

Gwaine and Merlin stared at each other for too long to be platonic.

Gwaine lowered his head slightly closer to Merlin’s.

Their lips were just about to meet when one of the planks Merlin had ended up lying on, creaked. The noise broke the silence and the stillness and they jolted apart, Gwaine climbing off Merlin.

“Shall we, um, give the shelves another try?” Arthur suggested quietly.

Gwaine coughed awkwardly. “Uh, yeah.”

-

There was no mention in the Pendragon-Emrys household of Gwaine, the shelves or the fact that Gwaine and Merlin had nearly kissed each other until a week later when Arthur and Merlin were watching TV. Arthur was listless, lying half on and half off the sofa, wondering how sore his back would be in the morning if he fell asleep there and then and Merlin didn’t wake him up to get him to go to bed. He had spent a long and tiring day at work and TV was dull but suddenly the image of Merlin nearly kissing Gwaine was at the forefront of his mind. “Would you have kissed him?” Arthur blurted out.

“What?” Merlin looked at him incredulously. “The creepy Dalek scientist guy?”

Arthur suddenly realised that Dr Who was on the TV and also that he hadn’t made it clear what the was talking about. “No! Gwaine. Last week. You were going to kiss him, weren’t you?”

Merlin turned off the TV and looked at the black screen with the upmost seriousness. “I don’t know.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow at him. “You either were or you weren’t.”

“I think he was going to kiss me.” Merlin whispered.

“Would you have kissed him back”

“Yes.”

“Do you like him?”

“Do you?”

Arthur gave a stiff, curt nod.

“I’ve wanted a relationship with him since the first time I saw him.” Merlin admitted.

“You remember we had that one drunken conversation about polyamory and said you didn’t think we’d ever act on it but it was still only 99% ruled out?”

“I think Gwaine’s the one percent.”

“He certainly likes you.”

“He likes you, too.” Merlin said quietly. “I caught him checking you out. And he's mentioned a couple of times how good a boyfriend you seem to be.”

“D’you think he'd agree to go on a date with us?”

“Is a date the right step?” Merlin looked at Arthur with wide eyes.

“I have no idea, that’s why I’m asking you!”

Merlin thought for a moment. “He’s very forward.”

“So… we should just ask him if he’ll be our boyfriend?”

“It’s that or go straight to bed with him, if we’re being forward.” Merlin said simply.

“Merlin!”

“What? It is!”

“We’re not going to ask him to go straight to bed with us.” Arthur said firmly. “That’s too forward.”

“So we ask him if he wants to be our boyfriend instead.”

“Yeah. Coz that's totally not forward at all.”

-

It was already falling dark outside when Arthur and Merlin knocked on Gwaine’s door. Arthur had finished up at work early but Merlin had been stuck changing price labels on suncream bottles for what had felt like a small age to both of them, Arthur waiting anxiously in the car and Merlin staring at the clock knowing the later they got to Gwaine’s the more likely it was that he would have gone out drinking.

They heard Pingu barking and not long after Gwaine was telling her to be quiet as he walked towards the door, “Merlin! Arthur! What are you doing here? Do you want to come in?”

Arthur was sitting on the floor playing with Pingu and Merlin was sitting at the tiny dining table eating biscuits with Gwaine when Merlin brought up the reason for their visit. “Will you be our boyfriend?”

Gwaine laughed. “Because I’ve got biscuits and a dog?”

“Because we really like you and that was why we came here.” Arthur said softly.

Gwaine looked back and forth between them with a look of shock on his face. “For real?”

Merlin and Arthur nodded.

Gwaine leaned over to Merlin and kissed him gently, then walked over to Arthur to kneel next to him. He took one of Arthur’s hands in his. “May I?” he asked.

Arthur nodded and Gwaine kissed his hand. “I would be honoured to be your boyfriend.

Arthur only hesitated for a moment before surging forwards to cup Gwaine’s face and kiss him fiercely.

-

A year later Pingu had three of the cutest, fluffiest puppies ever born and neither Gwaine, Arthur or Merlin could bear to part with any of them, so they gave up on their respective flat and house and bought a house together on the edge of town, one with a big garden.

Merlin was working towards a new pharmaceutical qualification, Arthur now had two angry boyfriends to drag out of the pub, Gwaine took up baking and during the Six Nations they barely spoke to each other.

With a relationship like that, how could they do anything but live happily ever after?

THE END.


End file.
